1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an O-ring test device for measuring various human body information, such as a body-compatibility determination, an abnormal area determination, and information identification.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, in medical diagnosis, a technique called xe2x80x9ca bi-digital O-ring testxe2x80x9d (hereinafter, referred to as xe2x80x9can O-ring testxe2x80x9d) has been known as a method for diagnosing an abnormal area of an examinee (patient) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,107). In this test, one finger satisfying the condition of being one of the second, third, fourth, and fifth fingers is placed against the first finger (thumb) of one hand of the examinee, a ring (O-ring) is formed by the two fingers, and the examinee is allowed to apply force to the fingers continuously. An examiner (measurer) opens the two fingers from both sides with examiner""s fingers. The strength of the fingers of the examinee tending to maintain the two fingers as they are against the examiner is determined.
This O-ring test is a living body sensor test making use of the muscular tonus condition. If the muscle strength of the fingers becomes weakened in a state where an arbitrary organ representation point is pointed to by the examinee, the O-ring opens. This means that the organ is abnormal. Conversely, when the O-ring is strong enough not to open, this means that the organ is normal. Incidentally, the meaning of the above is reversed only in the case of the thymus gland. This can find the abnormal areas of the body.
In addition, if the same technique is performed by having a sample of a particular material in the examinee""s hand, the muscle strength of the fingers of the examinee will become weakened and the O-ring will open if the same material in the examinee""s hand exists inside the body of the examinee. When the material exists, the muscle strength of the fingers becomes weakened and the O-ring opens. This has been interpreted to be a phenomenon resulting from the resonance of the substances, and is called a resonance test. By making use of this method, the distribution of bacteria, viruses, cancer, metabolic substances in a living body, hormones, nerve transmission substances, heavy metals, drugs, and the like in the living body can be determined, and diseases can be diagnosed. Incidentally, this O-ring test is an auxiliary diagnostic method that is conducted before the diagnosis made by using the latest normal medical equipment.
Incidentally, in the above-described O-ring test, there is a possibility that uncertain factors will enter into the fingers of the examiner tending to open the O-ring. That is, although the examiner must produce external force for opening the O-ring with a fixed power and the same rhythm every time, the examiner may conduct the O-ring test with non-uniform force. In addition, even if the examiner has the intention of applying the force uniformly to the fingers, since there is no objective indicator, effects due to suggestion or other conscious effects may appear.
Thus, as a device for conducting the O-ring test by an object other than the fingers of the examiner, devices disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 07-163552 (hereinafter, referred to as a first conventional art) and in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 08-38463 (hereinafter, referred to as a second conventional art) have been known.
The first conventional art discloses a device in which a bag means is inserted in an O-ring formed by the thumb and another finger of an examinee, the bag means is expanded by a control of injecting means to generate external force tending to open the O-ring, and then contact-separation state of the fingers forming the O-ring is detected by contact-separation detecting means based on the inflow and outflow state of gas, and a change in muscle strength of voluntary muscles before and after the detection of the separation of the fingers (the thumb and another finger) is secondarily measured based on the output of pressure detecting means.
The second conventional art discloses a device in which a pair of rings are engaged with the thumb and another finger of the examinee forming the O-ring, external force tending to open the O-ring is generated on the pair of rings by the power of an electric motor, the external force is measured based on the output of the external force detecting means, and the measurement result of the external force given to the thumb and another finger just before the detection of the separation of the thumb and another finger measured for the examinee before the O-ring test are comparatively operated by measuring means.
Since the external force for opening the O-ring is imparted by the bag means in the first conventional art and by the pair of rings in the second conventional art instead of the fingers of the examiner (measurer) into which uncertain factors enter, these conventional arts can impart fixed external force to the O-ring.
In the first conventional art, however, since the gas is injected to the bag means inserted in the O-ring so as to open the O-ring by the expansion of the bag means, unlike an original O-ring test for opening two fingers of the O-ring by the fingers of the examiner, the function of the O-ring test may not be sufficiently exhibited.
In addition, in the second conventional art, since the pair of rings locally come into contact with the thumb and another finger of the examinee forming the O-ring and do not come into contact softly, unlike human fingers, an uncomfortable sensation is given to the examinee. In addition, since the electric motor is used in the conventional art, electromagnetic waves generated by the electric motor exerts an influence on the vital reaction, whereby the result of the O-ring test may not be obtained accurately, and the device may be a large test device.
The present invention has been achieved in consideration of the above circumstances, and an object is to provide a compact O-ring test device which softly contacts the thumb and another finger of an examinee forming the O-ring like human fingers to generate external force in a direction to open the O-ring, and which can obtain the results of an O-ring test by preventing the influence of the device on a vital reaction.
In order to solve the above problems, there is provided an O-ring test device for forming an O-ring by a thumb and another finger consisting of voluntary muscles of an examinee, and for measuring body information according to a change in muscle strength of the voluntary muscles with external force tending to open the O-ring opposed against the muscle strength of the voluntary muscles of the examinee, the O-ring test device including: at least two artificial fingers engaging with the thumb and another finger forming the O-ring, having at least two fluid-sealed fluid chambers arranged parallel to each other, and generating the external force tending to open the O-ring by being bent and deformed by the movement of the fluid between the fluid chambers; pump means for moving the fluid between the plurality of fluid chambers; pressure detecting means for detecting pressure values in the artificial fingers when the external force is being generated; pump driving means for controlling the drive of the pump means; contact-separation detecting means for detecting contact and separation of the thumb and another finger; and a muscle strength change-calculating means for calculating a change in muscle strength of the voluntary muscles before and after the separation of the thumb and another finger detected by the contact-separation detecting means based on the output of the pressure detecting means.
In addition, there is provided an O-ring test device further including display means for displaying the result of the muscle strength change-calculating means.
In addition, there is provided an O-ring test device wherein the pump means is integrally connected to the base ends of the artificial fingers.
In addition, there is provided an O-ring test device wherein the pump means includes a diaphragm defining a pump fluid chamber between the pump means and ends of the artificial fingers; a piezoelectric element stacked on the diaphragm; and a valve part for setting a direction of movement of the fluid between the fluid chamber of one tube and the fluid chamber of the other tube.
In addition, there is provided an O-ring test device wherein the artificial fingers have a construction in which at least two slender tubes capable of expansion and contraction and having a fluid chamber accommodating therein a fluid are arranged in parallel to each other, and a flexible core member for controlling the lengthwise expansion of the tubes is provided between the tubes.
In addition, there is provided an O-ring test device wherein the tubes of the artificial fingers contacting the thumb and another finger forming the O-ring are formed of flexible elastic materials.
Furthermore, there is provided an O-ring test device wherein the fluid sealed in the fluid chambers is liquid, and the outer periphery of the artificial fingers is covered by an outer periphery-covering member having a liquid absorption function.